My Condolences
by D-Ro2593
Summary: Isabela is tired of Hawke teasing her and decides to waltz into his estate to get laid. But a meeting with Merrill alerts her of his mother's death. Isabela doesn't do comfort very well. Or does she? One, maybe two-shot. M!Hawke/Isabela/Merrill. M for a reason.


DA2 - My Condolences

Isabela/Hawke/Merrill

A/N - I really wrote this well over a year ago. I just never got around to posting it. I've been doing a little cleaning in my files and posting anything that looks close to being done. For as much as I actually write, I just realized that my profile had very little to show for it so I'm going to give it a little boost. Even if continuing certain things may or may not happen. I remember writing this that I had intended to write a lemon but never got around to it. I don't think it needs it, but I'll leave that up to my wonderful audience. Enjoy.

-o0o-

Brisk footsteps quickly made their way up the stone staircase leading from Kirkwall's dingy Lowtown up to the much nicer district of Hightown. The steps moved with a purpose and had an almost sensual sway to them. Given that they were naught but a pair of legs and feet swaying sensually the feat was rather impressive.

The owner of those footsteps was a scantily clad pirate known throughout all of Kirkwall under a variety of rather unflattering names, but as simply Isabela to her small circle of friends. The dark-skinned woman from Rivain strutted boldly through the streets of Hightown with that sway being more apparent in the swing of her full hips than in her booted feet. However, Isabela had a way to place that swagger in every part of her body as she moved, giving all the right areas a pleasant bounce in her utterly unique stride.

Combined with her admittedly purposely revealing outfit, Isabela's walk through Hightown had every male, and quite a few female heads turn to her immediate direction with hungry looks in their eyes. Isablea's more than ample cleavage was almost spilling out of a black corset over a long white blouse-like tunic. The tunic acted much like a skirt and extended down to the pirate's upper thigh, exposing a small amount of Isablea's leg and even a bit of her lacy black smallclothes through a slit that ran up the sides of the garment. Heavily buckled boots traveling up to the middle of her thighs along with an assortment of armbands and a pair of fingerless gloves completed Isabela's look.

Normally one to revel in the attention her strutting brought her, Isabela was oddly focused on reaching her destination and paid the lecherous stares no mind.

In a dangerous Free Marches' city-state such as Kirkwall, such inattentiveness to one's surroundings while looking the way that Isabela does is practically begging for trouble. If any other girl were to attempt such a feat, they probably would've been abducted off the street, raped, robbed and would most likely be forced into working at the Blooming Rose or on a Tevinter slave ship faster than Isabela could drain a mug of ale...and Isabela has been known to drink entire ports under the table in a single night.

Though in all likelyhood, the simple knowledge of who Isablea typically runs with in her free time, not to mention the wicked looking twin daggers strapped to her back, usually kept the letchers at bay. Nobody, and I mean absolutely nobody, wanted to get on the bad side of Garrett Hawke by forcing themselves on one of his closest friends and rumored lover in broad daylight. No, the cowardly would stay as far away as humanly possible from Isabela and her powerful friends while the more bold would wait until it was dark and Hawke was nowhere to be found to try and chat her up. Word on the street was that Isabela was notoriously easy to bed and even seemed to enjoy picking up random strangers to fuck senseless.

Isabela would've chuckled at the thought if she weren't so intent on reaching her destination. If someone had suggested that when she arrived in Kirkwall three years ago, she wouldn't have disagreed and would have probably rewarded the person with a causal night of exactly what they expected just for having the balls to say it to her face. But as it stood today, anyone who would suggest such a thing about her would probably meet the end of her blades in a very unpleasant manner. Shocking, I know, but Isabela would just say that a wizard did it.

Over the past three years, the wild and uninhibited Isabela had been slowly changed by a scruffy Fereldan apostate she met at the Hanged Man that she decided to follow around on a whim named Garrett Hawke. Today, Isabela could honestly say that meeting Hawke was probably one of the most significant moments in her life, right up there with her husband's assassination by that handsome Antivan elf and her theft of the Qunari relic which later led to the destruction of her her ship and the death of the majority of her crew.

Key word here being significant...that last one wasn't so pleasant.

Regardless, Hawke had single-handedly changed Isabela's life and has shown her the true meaning of adventure. In three years of following Hawke, she's seen and done more crazy shit than she ever thought was possible for anyone to do in a lifetime. Isabela had spent over ten years of her life as a pirate sailing the high seas and traveling to new and exotic places, but she had not even a fraction of the fun or done even half of the things she's done with Hawke in only three. Following Hawke around, Isabela has met the legendary Witch of the Wilds, fought dragons, bandits, raiders, Templars, slavers and even a few Tevinter magisters. She even got to travel to the Deep Roads and lived to tell the tale while simultaneously making a fortune. And that's just to name a few of the highlights!

Isabela never knew that darkspawn guarded so much ancient dwarven treasure down in the pits of the Deep Roads. There was enough for their entire little band of misfits to split what they found eight ways with Hawke and Varric getting the largest shares as investors in the expedition. Though if she never went back down into that dark dank and depressing hole in the ground, Isabela would die a happy woman.

The Deep Roads were the exact opposite of the open and free waves of the ocean that Isabela had come to love during her time as a pirate. Small, trapped and clausterphobic would be a nice way to describe the Deep Roads and that's not even taking the countless numbers of darkspawn, golems and rock wraiths powered by creepy red lyrium. That place was unsettling even to Varric, and he's not only a dwarf whose people built the bloody Deep Roads, but he's also one of the most manliest men she's ever met, third to only Hawke and the Hero of Fereldan..._'mmm, now that was a man...too bad he was so stuck on that haughty black haired chick...lucky bitch.'_

Jealous recollections aside, Isabela felt that she owes Hawke for the best three years of her life despite being shipwrecked and stranded in the ass end of the Free Marches...though she didn't stay just for the adventure, as fun as it all was. Hawke the man was just as exciting and enticing as any of the silly adventures that they'd run off on. Witty, charming, sarcastic, resourceful, nonjudgemental, and best of all, sexy as hell, Hawke was perfect in every sense of the word in Isabela's eyes - just don't let anybody know.

Under normal circumstances, Isabela would've jumped his bones within five minutes of meeting him, but circumstance had somehow prevented her from acting on her desires. While not a prude by any stretch, Hawke apparently gave sex far greater meaning than Isabela thought it deserved. He believed that the act signified a deeper connection than just a night of mindless pleasure and he staunchly guarded his handsome body against the Kirkwall ladies' aggressive bids to bed him for a night - much to Isabela's simultaneous delight and dismay.

The man had more than earned Isabela's respect after he helped her out with that backstabbing shit, Hayder, on the very first night she met him, so after Hawke turned down her proposition that night and gave her his reasons, Isabela had given heed to his desires even though they had conflicted with her own. She figured that it was his loss and that they wouldn't be seeing much of each other in the future anyway, so what was the point of crying over lost meat when she lived in a veritable butcher shop?

But Hawke came back for Isabela's help in his many adventures for coin and the prospect of coin always roused Isabela to partake in the festivities. However, the more time she spent with Hawke, the harder it became for Isabela to honor his wishes. The man was far too much fun and handled difficult situations with just the right amount of levity mixed with a brutal efficiency that she would've killed to have during some of her more difficult pirate operations. Hawke always got the job done to the exact parameters described to him, but made sure he had fun and got well paid for doing it. His morals were loose enough to allow some less than legitimate work such as smuggling and trafficking certain goods as long as it paid well, but strong enough to compel him to put a stop to serious injustices like slaving, banditry and the hunting of apostates, which he DOES have a bit of a personal stake in, to be fair. But he still made it a point to help any obviously innocent mage in need that they came across during their travels.

Hawke's code of honor was very similar to Isabela's own with a single exception. For Hawke, certain things were off the table when it came to saving his own skin. No matter what the cost, there was absolutely nothing that would make Garrett Hawke betray one of his friends. Isabela's relationships had always been skin deep at best and never really had much of a reason for her to value another outside of a professional or a purely sexual reason. But to Hawke, relationships are extremely important and if you're lucky enough to be counted as one of his friends, Hawke would treat you like his family and would defend you to the death if he had to. This is no exaggeration, Isabela had seen firsthand what Hawke did to people who threatened any of his little crew of misfits.

Magic was definitely terrifying when wielded by an angry Hawke...

His power both terrified and excited Isablea at the same time, but she could do nothing about it...damn him for looking so sexy when he got mad.

Everytime she hit on him over the years, he readily flirted back but always stopped short of any physical actions. Frankly, this frustrated the hell out of Isabela and drove her to seek more sexual partners than ever before just to alleviate the incessent burn Hawke left in her every time they parted for the night. At first it worked well enough to sate her lust for the man and the act calmed her down just like it always did. But the more time she spent around Hawke the less it worked to the point where sleeping with other men, and even some women, who were so obviouly NOT Hawke simply made her desire for him worse! For such a sexually driven woman, the though of sex never being satisfying again was unacceptable to say the least for Isabela.

So, after three years of waiting and suffering to honor the wishes of the best man she's ever met, Isabela was throwing all that out the window. She didn't care what she had to do but Isabela was on a mission to bed Hawke tonight, one way or another. She could only hope that he didn't hate her too much afterwards.

Isabela's footsteps stopped as she reached her destination. The Amell crest hung proudly in front of the estate looming ahead of her signifying that she's made it to Hawke's not-so-humble home.

Deftly picking the lock like she always does, Isabela crept into the mansion without making a sound. Upon entering, Isabela noticed that something was different about the place. Everything looked the same and was in the same places, but something just seemed...off. The walls seemed darker and the vibrant hues of the expensive carpet seemed less inviting than it usually did. Even the very air of the building seemed depressed and sullen, which was completely out of character for who lived in this estate. In three years, Isabela had never seen Hawke outwardly sad or despondent so something must be very wrong for his home to have such an air lingering around.

Before Isabela could take a single step to try and find Hawke to figure out what the problem was, the front door opened behind her. In walked Merrill, the party's resident Dalish blood mage looking more nervous and distressed than she usually did.

Don't let the title of blood mage fool you, Merrill was about as dangerous as a two-week old kitten in most instances and is so innocent that the poor girl didn't even know what a brothel was and assumed it had something to do with soup. The elven girl was sweet and more than a little naïve when it came to human cultures and customs, but was so cute that Isabela decided to take her under her wing, so to speak, and...educate her to the realities of the world.

After three years of running with Isabela and Hawke, Merrill had lost a bit of that endearing innocence but was still remarkably naïve when it came to common observations of the still seemingly odd human world around her. If she were being honest with herself, Isabela would've admitted that her Kitten probably wouldn't have lasted more than a month in Kirkwall without Hawke, Varric and herself looking after her what with Kirkwall's countless Templars and Merrill's innate...childish Dalishness.

Thankfully, under Isabela's tutulage, Kitten had become a little bolder, a little less self concious and had developed a surprisingly dirty mind. Well, about as dirty as a sheltered elven virgin with no knowledge outside of exaggerated stories from Varric and some rather unbelievable ones from Isabela can get anyway. Even so, this was a vast improvement over where she was when they met her at the Dalish camp hidden in the rocky cliffs of nearby Sundermount. Back then all it took was a wink from Isabela or a smirk from Hawke to turn her into a blushing stuttering mess.

Ah...there goes Isabela's only gripe with her Kitten. It was painfully obvious from the moment Hawke and friends took her in after she left her clan that she had a bit of a thing for Hawke. The man had apparently been the first person to show Kitten any kindness in quite some time if the hostle stares and glares eminating from her clansmen were any indication. Those stares were probably in response to her blood magic and would have had merit if Merrill wasn't so genuinely harmless to the average person. Kitten only fought to protect others and never just because. Blood magic was just a tool she picked up for another venture that proved to be rather useful in combat every now and then.

The label of being a blood mage typically turns people away from Merrill almost immediately due to the very nature of her power. For Hawke to not judge her for her choices as well as showing previously unseen kindness and being sexy as all hell, Isabela couldn't blame her Kitten for falling for Hawke. Hell, if Isabela didn't know any better, Merrill felt a little something for herself as well...something Isabela wasn't adverse for a couple of nights, but Kitten deserved far more than what she could offer her. Merrill was much like Hawke in her views on sex and Hawke seems to find her lithe elven body rather attractive - not that Merrill was unattractive or anything, but compared to Isabela's voluptuous figure, Kitten fell a bit short to Isabela's roaring Tigress of a body. Still, Merrill was here for a reason and her presence probably wouldn't quite coincide with Isabela's purpose past figuring out what was up with the estate's air of doom and gloom.

All of these thoughts ran through Isabela's head in no more than a few seconds, which was long enough for Merrill to notice Isabela standing in the doorway she was trying to walk through.

Preoccupied as she was in her own thoughts, Merrill couldn't stop herself in time before she walked straight into Isabela, sending them both tumbling to the carpeted floor in a tangled heap of limbs.

Using a well practiced movement, Isabela used her quick reflexes to twist herself in mid-fall to position herself on top of Merrill with her hips straddled across the smaller woman's waist. Isabela surprised herself with the movement as it was made more out of instinct than an actual desire to be on top of Merrill...not that she was complaining, of course. A sultry smirk appeared on Isabela's lips as she decided to take advantage of the situation.

"Well Kitten," purred Isabela as she leaned closer to the surprised elf underneath her. "If you wanted me so bad, all you had to do was ask."

Merrill immediately flushed about eight shades of red as she sputtered out a response, "I-Isabela?! Wh-what are y-you.."

Isabela gave a short peal of laughter before lifting herself off of Merrill's midsection and extending a hand to help her up.

"I was just playing, Kitten," said Isabela as Merrill gratefully accepted the outstretched appendage. "Come to see bossman, have you? What's the occasion?"

Merrill gave Isabela an incredulous look, "You mean you haven't heard?"

"Heard what Merrill?" replied Isabela.

Merrill shook her head, "Of course you haven't heard...you weren't there this time. Oh I hope Hawke's alright. Do you think he's alright? I don't think I'd be alright if it were me. Then again, I don't remember my mother much since my old clan sent me to serve under Keeper Marethari once my magic revealed itself. And the Keeper has been more of a mother to me anyway, but this has nothing to do with Hawke and now I'm rambling. Sorry."

Merrill gave a sheepish grin while Isabela was still processing the relevent information from Merrill's rant. She does it so often that Isabela doesn't even feel the need to acknowledge that it happened.

"Wait, something happened to Hawke's mother, Kitten?"

At this Merrill tilted her head down and her voice contained an unsteady waver as she responded, "Yes, it was...horrible. A derranged blood Mage kidnapped and used Hawke's mother in a necromantic ritual to bring his dead wife back to life."

"Necromancy? Isn't that like reanimating corpses to do your bidding?" Isabela was stricken at the news. She didn't know Leandra Hawke all that well and didn't like her that much when she did meet her, but she was still Garrett's mother and they seemed to have a much better relationship than Isabela did with her own mother. Hawke would be devastated with her death...and enraged at the violent nature of it. "Why would someone do that to Hawke's mother?"

"Apparently, Hawke's mother looked like the mage's wife...he said he had to have her face...it was awful Isabela!" Merrill was obviously present when they found Leandra's mutilated and defiled corpse. Her distress was more than evident in the tortured tone of her voice and the wracking sobs that threatened to spill forth from her at any moment.

Merrill was a blood mage and had seen and done some rather nasty things in the course of learning how to better control her demonic powers in the last three years under Hawke's strict supervision. If what this mage did was so atrocious that it had Merrill this distraught, then Isabela could only imagine how horrible it must've been - and to her...uh...business partner's mother no less.

Isabela's shock and sadness quickly gave way to rage as the implications of what her friends -_ 'I can't believe I actually care this much...'_ - were put through by that lunatic, especially Hawke.

Hawke...that must be why this place is so gloomy. A sudden flare of white hot rage the likes of which Isabela had never felt before completely enveloped her. Hawke was Isabela's first real friend in almost fifteen years and his mother was just murdered.

And when he needed her the most, she was nowhere to be found.

Isabela was beyond pissed. She wanted to maim the man responsible with her bare hands for putting her friends through this. She wanted to be at Hawke's side when he finally confronted the bastard, not for Leandra, but for Hawke...speaking of which, the man was probably feeling like shit and was most likely already plotting his revenge, unless...

With uncharacteristic anger, Isabela rounded on the still sobbing Merrill, "Kitten!"

Merrill gave one last sniff before looking up at Isabela with questioning eyes. She was a little taken aback the venom in Isabela's voice and even more so with the sheer intensity of the rage burning in her hazel eyes. Merrill had never seen Isabela this angry in the entire time that she had known the woman. In fact, she actually hadn't even seen Isabela show this much raw, uncontrolled emotion before either. Isabela had always been an emotional person, but she had always been in strict control over what she revealed to others. The woman might not have looked it, but Isabela had the kind of discipline that would make a Templar jealous. There was a reason why the woman was the most feared dimondback player in all of Kirkwall.

But this loss of control was completely unfounded and unprecedented for her. As far as Merrill knew, Isabela didn't even like Leandra. So what could possibly make Isabela react so violently from the death of someone she didn't even like. As a group they've seen, and caused, enough death for all of them to be all but desnsitized to all but the most gruesome deaths. Really, only Hawke should be ups- oh...

Merrill gave a little internal smile to herself. It would seem that Isabela cared much more than she let on.

Isabela didn't wait for Merrill to give a verbal response and continued her train of thought with a dangerous slowness, "Kitten, tell me that Hawke is okay and the bastard who did this is already dead or so help me-"

"Oh, he's dead alright," Merrill cut Isabela off quickly with an intensity to her words that nearly matched Isabela's rage. All of her earlier tears were abandoned and a steely glint appeared in in the elf's large green eyes. Isabela recognized that particular expression on her Kitten's face. It usually came right after someone threatens her friends and right before that same person exploded from the inside out from their blood having been boiled inside their veins by an angry blood mage. When Merrill gave that look, she wasn't a kitten anymore, but an angry lioness hungry for blood. That look alone had almost sent more enemies running than the group had actually had to fight over the years...almost. Seeing that look on Merrill's face while she talked about that madman put Isabela at ease slightly. The man either died horribly, or he's going to.

"What Hawke and I did to him was far more than that vile..." Merrill paused to find the most insulting word she could think of to properly convey the depth of her anger, "_**Shem**_...deserved. May the Dread Wolf take him!"

Isabela was a little shocked. Merrill never used that word out of respect for Hawke and the other humans who've in effect become her family after she left her clan during the entire time Isabela has known her. Isabela couldn't speak for anytime before that, but the word simply sounded foreign on Merrill's tounge. The elven word, _Shemlen_ - often shortened to _Shem_ - meaning "the quick", was a reference to the finite lifespans of humans compared to the elves' formerly immortal ones present in ancient times before even Andraste walked among the living. Today, the elves are no longer immortal due to their constant contact with humans, "quickening" their lifespan, and the term has become something of a racial slur for humans by the elves. If Merrill would call a human a shem, then they truly deserved it.

Despite the circumstances, Isabela couldn't help but be proud with her Kitten for coming out of her shell and speaking her mind no matter how nasty the thought was.

Just as quickly as her anger came, Merrill's face turned sorrowfully innocent once more as she continued with a small sniff, "Poor Leandra...she didn't deserve that kind of fate. She may not have been close to us or our group but she was still Hawke's mother and he loved her."

Isabela could only nod as Merrill's tears began anew while Isabela's hatred slowly left her body. Now that she knew that the mage responsible has been dispatched as violently as possible, Isabela's need for vengence on behalf of her friend had simply vanished. Without her anger to anchor her, Isabela began to feel a little awkward in front of the quitely crying elf in front of her. Isabela was known for many things; her quick wit, silver tounge and incredible sex appeal being the highest on the list, but if there was one thing that Isabela could never get, it was the fine art of providing comfort to distraught people. She'd always been terrible at it and faced with not only the sobbing elf in front of her and a hopefully murderous Hawke later - she can deal with anger in so many pleasurable ways - Isabela was completely out of her element.

Approaching Merrill with a tentative hand outstretched, Isabela tried to do what she could.

"Um...uh, are you alright Kitten?"

Giving another almighty sniff Merrill responded trying to will away her tears, "I'll be okay...it's just Hawke...he must be feeling so alone in this house by himself after what happened. First his father and sister in Lothering, then his brother in the Deep Roads, and now his mother at the hands of a lunatic! Isabela, I'm worried for him...he's the first person who hasn't looked at me strange because of my magic. He accepts me for me and I think I might- Well...umm..."

Isabela gave the sputtering elf a knowing smirk while Merrill blushed a furious shade of scarlet.

"Well...uh...right, I'm rambling again. I'll stop now." Satisfied with her recovery, Merrill took a deep breath to collect herself and turned back to a still smirking Isabela. Isabela wasn't fooled in the slightest.

A rosy tint still on her cheeks, Merrill said, "The point is, I really care about Hawke. I mean about his well being, not like that! Though if he happened to like skinny elven girls who talk too much I wouldn't mind...he doesn't, but still...it would be rather nice...cause he's rather nice...and I think...I'm rambling again, sorry."

Merrill's head slumped to the floor in embarrassment at her latest bout of word vomit.

Isabela was trying hard not to laugh. Merrill could just be too cute for her own good sometimes! Deciding to save the girl before she embarrassed herself any further, Isabela put a friendly arm around Merrill's shoulders and pulled her in close...a little too close for a "friendly" hug.

While Merrill was all but confessing the feelings Isabela already knew she had for Hawke, Isabela had come up with a brilliant idea. Hawke was mourning the loss of his mother, Merrill was worried for Hawke, her feelings for him and was sad and upset at the perversion of magic that caused Leandra's death. Isabela was simply horny though more than a small measure of concern for Hawke and her Kitten had mixed in. Isabela's plan wouldn't solve all everyone's trouble right at that moment, but it might give them a chance to forget at least for a little while. Whatever happened afterwards would happen as it will, but Isabela was certain that they all needed exactly what she was willing to offer.

A salacious grin appeared on Isabela's face as she held a still blushing Merrill close to her chest. "I get it Kitten, really I do. It's times like these when we need to take comfort in those who're left."

Isabela let her nimble fingers wander down onto Merrill's small waist and pulled the elf closer to her body. If it was possible, Merrill blushed an even darker shade of red.

"I-Isabela?" Merrill sputtered out trying to look away from said pirate. "T-this isn't funny. What're you doing?"

Isabela grabbed Merrill's chin and gently lifted her face up so that they could look each other in the eye. This wasn't a passing fancy for Isabela. This was her trying to comfort one of her few true friends in the only way she knew how.

With genuine sincerity, Isabela said, "I'm trying to make you feel better, Kitten...after so much death and destruction, I think we all need need to take solace in the fact that we're still alive. What better way to do that than this?"

Now it was Merrill's turn to be shocked...that was an almost profound statement coming from Isabela. The elven girl had never seen any indication that Isabela's frequent trysts had any meaning other than for the simple pleasure she heard sex can bring. It had always been a curious thing that Merrill could never figure out about her friend. Now, Merrill thought she could see why Isabela constantly had sex regardless of who it was with.

_'To Isabela, sex must represent life.' _Merrill thought to herself under the piercing hazel gaze of the pirate pressed up against her. '_For a woman who always happens to deal in death and with some of the absolute worst people Thedas had to offer, Isabela must've needed some way to cope with the rather nasty nature of her job. Nobody could just kill, steal and basically just be rotten every day without becoming a bit of a loon. Sex must provide a sort of...release for Isabela. Well...in more ways than just the obvious, I suppose.'_

Merrill was unknowingly nodding her head sagely in acceptance of this new knowledge when an unexpectantly pleasant sensation jolted all throughout Merrill's body. Her attention was quickly brought back to the voluptuous woman in front of her. While Merrill was busy contemplating her friend's motives, Isabela was anything but idle.

Merrill could feel Isabela's massive breasts slowly gyrating against the nipples of her own much smaller breasts causing both of their nipples to harden to almost painful peaks that sent jolts of pleasure up Merrill's body everytime they brushed against each other. Isabela's hands had continued to roam across Merrill's waist and gradually dipped lower to grasp at the soft flesh of Merrill's rear, kneading and caressing with enthusiasm before sliding around to rub the inside of the elf's thighs with the pads of her fingers. In her enthusiasm, Isabela's nimble fingers were coming dangerously close to Merrill's rapidly heating core but they always refrained from touching that intimately without her Kitten's permission. Nevertheless, the sensations the pirate was causing was nothing short of incredible to the inexperienced mage.

Merrill was sent reeling. Nobody had ever touched her in this manner and the sensations running throughout her body were completely new and unexplored by the elven mage. Flushing even deeper, it took every bit of the considerable willpower that she possessed for Merrill not to scream out from the pleasure Isabela was giving her. Isabela hadn't even touched her properly and yet the scrape of Isabela's hardened nipples on her own and the insistent groping of Isabela's hands rapidly moving between her ass, hips and thighs were sending Merrill into a frenzy of sensation and pleasure despite the barriers of clothing and armor between them.

Years of secluded studying as Keeper Marethari's first and with her magic always scaring most of her clan away had left Merrill with absolutely zero firsthand knowledge of the pleasures such intimate contact with another could bring. Her near continuous position at the Keeper's side had left Merrill with very few opportunities to pleasure herself and nobody would dare to come near, let alone touch her out of fear of her. Even when she got to Kirkwall, Merrill immediately became smitten with Hawke and had eyes only for him; effectively pushing all sexual thoughts for anyone else out of her head. Isabela was always fun and awfully flirty, but Merrill had come to view Isabela as the big sister she never had. The thought of doing anything sexual with her had never even crossed the blood mage's mind. Merrill figured that being the closest person to Isabela immediately after hearing such terrible news, Isabela needed to cope with the issue the only way she knew how. She was flattered of course but was very unsure about continuing forward with this.

If Merrill had really thought about it, however, she would've realized that Isabela hadn't actually lain with anybody - male or female - for close to a year now. A result of her maddening desire for Hawke, every person that wasn't her apostate has failed miserably to set her carnal passions ablaze. Isabela hadn't even lusted after anyone save for Hawke - not even the delightfully handsome and broody Fenris had managed to light her fire in the past year!

This would make Merrill's insight into Isabela's past promiscuity a bit skewed as Isabela had still continued to lie, cheat, steal, and murder throughout the course of the party's adventures with no ill effects on her psyche. Granted, she had been taking longer and hungrier looks at Hawke than ever before during the last year, but she was still the same snarky, flirty firecracker that she had always been.

These facts remained true as despite the compromising situation playing itself out, Isabela did not lust for Merrill. In fact, the pirate wasn't even turned on by the small but shapely female body squirming helplessly against her own.

The pirate meant what she said when she told Merrill that the best way to recover after a severe loss was to revel in the fact that you're still living. Isabela wanted to help her clearly distraught friends recover the best way she knew how...and finally sate her own desires at the same time. As much as she cared about her Kitten, Isabela plans on using her inexperience and their mutual attraction to Hawke to her advantage. Isabela knew that Merrill wanted Hawke almost as bad as she did, and that Hawke wanted them both but couldn't bring himself to choose between them. He didn't want to hurt either of them so he simply resolved to admire them both from afar...the man could be too damn noble for his own good sometimes.

The passing of Leandra and Hawke's revenge having been successful has most likely left Garrett in a fragile emotional state. Combined with the fact that he's basically alnoe in this giant house all alone with only his dog, Bodahn, Orana, and Enchantment Boy, Hawke has got to be feeling terrible. Thankfully, Isabela was there to make it all better with the help of her lovely elven assistant.

But first, Isabela had to get her assistant's aprroval.

Panting deeply with heavily lidded eyes, Merrill looked as if she were about to explode at any second from Isabela's minor groping. Isabela allowed a smirk to grace her beautiful lips...apparently Merrill was just as innocent as she thought.

Innocent she may be, Merrill still was able to keep her wits about her.

"Isabela," Merrill groaned out between breaths. "W-what about Hawke...h-he needs us right now."

Isabela's smirk widened at Merrill's words. She was making this far too easy.

"Yes Kitten," Isabela purred almost cat-like herself. "Hawke does need us. He lost his mother and must be feeling awful...we should go up and include him in this little...activity."

A moment passed in silence before Merrill's eyes suddenly went wide as she processed the implications of Isabela's statement.

"W-what?!"

"You know Kitten, I've been watching you lately...you just can't seem to keep your eyes off of Hawke," Isabela crooned.

Merrill's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as she tried to formulate a response to no avail. Isabela seemed not to notice as she continued to whisper into Merrill's pointed ears.

"Don't worry Kitten, it's completely normal...our sexy apostate seems to have that effect on people - myself included."

Merrill paid no heed to Isabela's statement as she was still struggling with the sinful sensations rippling along her petite form.

"B-but I-Isabela...I've never...you know..."

"I figured that one out a long time ago Kitten. Just follow my lead, okay? Trust me when I say that I know what I'm doing..."

To punctuate her statement, Isabela gave one of Merrill's pert nipples a sharp squeeze that elicited a barely contained squeak of pleasure from the elf's parted lips.

_'__**Elgar'nan**__...if it feels this good with Isabela - and through my clothes, no less - then with Hawke...'_

Countless forbidden images flew through Merrill's mind of a naked Hawke hovering over top of her...sweat glistening on his brow as he surged his powerfully built body into her again and again and again; pleasure lightng up her every nerve with each impossibly deep stroke. She imagined what his face would look like as he neared his completion as her own climax rapidly approached with all of the subtlety of a tidal wave. She imagined what it would feel like to have his essence flow into her as she simultaneously clamped down on his girth and screamed his name out for all the heavens to hear...her own name spilling unabashedly from her lover's lips...

"Merrill!"

"Huh..."

Merrill snapped back to reality to view a knowingly smirking Isabela still holding her close to the pirate's enormous breasts.

Merrill felt something wet sliding down her chin and raised an arm to wipe it off.

It was a small line of drool that must've unconciously found it's way out of her mouth as she dydreamed about Hawke.

Right on cue, Isabela suddenly leaned down and slowly licked the drool off of the elf's fingers with a sultry look in her eyes. Merrill groaned again with the sexiness of the gesture and squirmed a bit in Isabela's grasp to try and allieviate the uncomfortable dampness that had settled into her pants throughout the entire ordeal.

Surprisingly, Isabela pulled away from the over-excited elf just as she began to try and take a more active role in her pursuit of pleasure.

Merrill looked up with wide and questioning eyes as

Isabela wagged a finger in her face moving back and forth impying that Merrill was doing something Isabela didn't want.

"Nu-uh, Kitten," Isabela purred, "Arent we forgetting something...or rather someone in all this?"

Merrill let out an odd moan of what seemed like simultaneous frustration and desire at Isabela's reminder. On one hand, she wanted Hawke with an intensity and passion that truly scared her at times and was on the verge of finally being fulfilled, but on the other hand, Merrill didn't want what Isabela was doing to her body to stop even for a moment until the maddening pressure that's been steadily building in her most sacred place was relieved.

Merrill was wracked with indecision as she continually tried to rub herself against the busy pirate in front of her to get rid of the pressure but all to no avail. Isabela possessed infinitely more quickness and dexterity than Merrill and deftly avoided all of the increasingly frantic elf's more intimate gyrations while still keeping both hands locked on Merrill's hips. An impressive feat to say the least, but to any bystandard who would've happened to view the two of them swaying, touching and all but wrestling each other, they would've thought that they were either inventing a rather raunchy dance or trying to kill each other.

"So what's it gonna be, Kitten," Isabela taunted with her smirk never leaving her face, "Are we going to go get what I know we both want from our fearless leader, or should we just leave him to his grief?"

Merrill paused for a moment to truly consider Isabela's proposition. It didn't take her very long.

With nary a word, the elf spun on her heel and darted off into the estate in search of Hawke with an oddly predatory gleam in her eye. All the while followed at a more sedate pace by an ecstatic Isabela who was chuckling quietly at her victory and the thought of just how easy it was to manipulate people sometimes.

_'Poor girl,' _Isabela thought to herself as she began to undo some of the laces of her black corset as she followed the increasingly faint sound of Merrill's feet running across the plush carpet. _'I don't think anyone has ever shown any real attention to her if she reacted that strongly to me feeling her up a little.'_

Isabela smirked as the corset fell away to the ground behind her. _'Oh well, someone else's loss is my gain.'_ Isabela's smirk turned into a full blown grin as a loud SLAM echoed throughout the house followed by a startled masculine yell that was quickly muffled. _'And I suppose it's Hawke's gain as well...' _

Isabela simply laughed and decided to take her time getting to Hawke's room.


End file.
